The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

　　哈克不同於湯姆精靈古怪，也不那麼輕浮，但他的堅強性格、不畏難、灑脫不在乎世俗，繼承繼母的遺產後，為生父綁架然後逃脫，他於是沿著密西西比河南 奔，中途經歷許多有驚無險有險化為夷的故事，透過跟逃亡黑奴吉姆結伴流浪的經歷，譴責了蓄奴制的罪惡，批判封建家庭結仇械鬥的野蠻，辛辣地諷刺宗教的虛偽 愚昧，宣傳不分種族地位人人享有自由權利的進步主張。

　　清新有力的文字，自然而獨特的審視角度，使這部作品獨成風標，成為美國文學史上 具劃時代意義的現實主義著作。這部傑作，也因其功在“將口語形式變成為令人尊敬的文學形式”，奠定了他在美國文學史上的地位，獲得了眾多權威人士的高度評 價，海明威就說過：自馬克‧吐溫的這部作品開始，全美現代文學到來了……

　　本書中譯本<<頑童流浪記>>由商周出版

　　The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn began life as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but is now seen in its own right as one of the most important of all American novels. Rather than be ’sivilized’ by the Widow Douglas, Huckleberry Finn and Jim, an escaped slave, set off to find freedom on the Mississippi. Their adventures teach them much about the society in which they live, and the book combines an exuberant sense of nostalgia with subtle undertones of adult melancholy.

　　With an afterword by Peter Harness.

馬克‧吐溫Mark Twain

　　美國著名的作家、演說家。1835年出生於美國密蘇里州，四歲時 跟著家人搬到密蘇里州的漢尼拔小鎮定居；這裡後來成為《湯姆歷險記》的故事背景。他一生創作了大量作品，涵蓋小說、劇本、散文、詩歌等，作品以幽默、諷 刺、機智的反應而廣受歡迎；被認為是最具美國本色的作家，更有「文學中的林肯」之稱。諾貝爾文學獎得主威廉‧福克納更稱馬克‧吐溫為「第一位真正的美國作 家，我們都是繼承他而來」。

　　馬克‧吐溫的代表作有《湯姆歷險記》、《哈克貝利歷險記》、《百萬英鎊》等。他在《湯姆歷險記》的序文中 寫道：「本書中記載的冒險故事大多真實發生過，有些是我的親身經歷，有些則是我朋友的故事。湯姆和哈克都是根據真實人物而寫成，湯姆不單是一個人，而是結 合了我認識的三個男孩的特質，是三人的化身。」

　　Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri - a town which would provide the inspiration for St Petersburg in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. When he started writing in earnest in his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain (the cry of a Mississippi boatman taking depth measurements, meaning 'two fathoms'), and a string of highly successful publications followed. His later life, however, was marked by personal tragedy and sadness, as well as financial difficulty. In 1894, several businesses in which he had invested failed, and he was declared bankrupt. Over the next fifteen years he saw the deaths of two of his beloved daughters, and his wife.

　　Increasingly bitter and depressed, Twain died in 1910, aged seventy-four.